Question: Ben is $4$ times as old as Ishaan and is also $6$ years older than Ishaan. How old is Ishaan?
Explanation: We can use the given information to write down two equations that describe the ages of Ben and Ishaan. Let Ben's current age be $b$ and Ishaan's current age be $i$. Let Ben's current age be $b$ and Ishaan's current age be $i$. ${b = 4i}$ ${b = i + 6}$ Now we have two independent equations, and we can solve for our two unknowns. Since we are looking for $i$, and both of our equations have $b$ alone on one side, this is a convenient time to use elimination. Subtracting the second equation from the first equation, we get: $0 = {4i} -{(i + 6)}$ which combines the information about $i$ from both of our original equations. Solving for $i$, we get: $3 i = 6$. $i = 2$.